Monthly Archives: July 2011

With all the attention to the fate of John Boehner’s debt-ceiling bill — see John Hinderaker, Charles Krauthammer Jennifer Rubin, and the wall-to-wall coverage at NRO — I wonder what happens next. No one argues that the Boehner bill can pass the Senate, where Harry Reid is playing Dingy Harry, or that a Reid/Democratic bill can pass the House. Those of us who hope for passage of the Boehner bill »

I mentioned earlier today that two professional editorial cartoonists entered the Power Line Prize competition. While we are waiting for news from the House of Representatives, let’s pause to enjoy the second such submission, by Eric Allie. Allie’s cartoon, titled “In A Hole,” exemplifies the fact that when it comes to art–and polemics–tastes vary. Mike Scholl, who oversaw the contest on behalf of the Freedom Club, said this was his »

In about an hour, the House of Representatives will vote on Speaker John Boehner’s revised bill to cut spending and increase the debt limit. Normally one would assume that Boehner wouldn’t schedule the vote unless he knew he had the votes needed for passage, but news accounts say the outcome was still in doubt as of a few hours ago. I am not crazy about some aspects of Boehner’s bill. »

This could be the last nail in the coffin of the global warming alarmists: NASA data show that the amount of heat that the Earth has been losing into space, from 2000 to the present, is far greater than the alarmist models predicted. This conclusion is critical because all scientists, alarmists and realists alike, agree that the direct increase in Earth’s temperature caused by additional CO2 in the atmosphere is »

Two professional editorial cartoonists entered the Power Line Prize competition. As it happened, neither won a prize, but their entries were characteristically good. This one is by Chris Muir, who draws the internet-based Day By Day strip. It sums up the debt crisis in a simple manner that should be kept in mind by those who are now negotiating in D.C. to raise the debt ceiling: »

Power Line is the must-read front page for American politics. Check Power Line daily for the latest. See other Power Line Prize entries by clicking here! This video titled “Doorbell,” submitted by Don Brookins, wasn’t a prize winner in the Power Line Prize competition, but it meets the purpose of the competition very well: in simple fashion, it brings home the significance of the federal debt crisis and the impact »

As a rule, in my opinion, Israel’s politics and public relations fall short of the talents otherwise on display among its people. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon account for notable exceptions to the rule, if in fact it is a rule. Last month Prime Minister Netanyahu invited questions from around the world, especially from the Arab world, that he offered to answer on YouTube. »

One of the problems with socialized medicine is that it pretty much destroys–or entirely destroys, depending on a given country’s laws–the private provision of medical services. Thus, when the socialized system begins to crash and burn, as it inevitably will, citizens have nowhere else to turn. That is what is happening in Great Britain: the government has begun a more severe regimen of rationing of surgeries: Hip replacements, cataract surgery »

The top four finishers in the Power Line Prize contest win cash prizes: $100,000 for the winner, $15,000 for the runner-up, and $5,000 prizes for two third-place finishers. So as of now, we are in the money. The first third-place finisher was a unique entry–in the eyes of several judges, the most creative one we got. It was not a single product, but rather an event conducted on YouTube, Facebook »

A commenter on “The Prince of America” said that he wished there had been more paintings entered in the Power Line Prize competition. There were some more, actually; this is one of them: “Washington’s Sword,” by Barbara Allen. It is fun to identify the figures in the painting: »

This was one of the most striking videos entered in the Power Line Prize competition. It is called “Digging A Hole” and was entered by Scott Schweitzer of the Strategy Group for Media. For a while I thought it might win the contest. It is short enough to make an excellent television commercial; its simplicity and ominous tone make it attention-grabbing: »

This short animated video does a great job of showing how we are burdening our children and grand children with unacceptable levels of debt. It is called “Passing the Buck,” and was submitted in the Power Line Prize contest by Kyle Butler: »

In the Power Line Prize contest, we welcomed entries in all artistic media. A high proportion were videos and songs, as we expected, but we also got a surprising (to me) number of paintings and other graphic art. This is a painting called The Prince of America, by Jeremy Rosenstein Kortes. A somewhat enigmatic image based on the story of Moses, it depicts an American landscape following debt-driven economic collapse. »

This chart by the Heritage Foundation offers a great deal of information about the history of changes in the debt limit–which, of course, tracks closely with the history of growing federal debt. You can see at a glance how the skyrocketing debt of the last few years smashes all historical precedent: The chart also responds implicitly to some recent Democratic Party talking points. The Democrats like to point out that »

The installment of Uncommon Knowledge with Professor Charles Hill was the first that that we posted on Power Line under our arrangement with the Hoover Institution. In the current installment Professor Hill is joined by Professor Fouad Ajami for a sort of all-star panel moderated by Peter Robinson on the clash of Islam and the West and the Arab Spring. Professor Hill spent an incredibly distinguished career in the foreign »

The word in Washington is that there isn’t actually a lot of difference between John Boehner’s budget proposal and Harry Reid’s. Tonight, Boehner sent his budget back to the drawing board because the Congressional Budget Office, scoring the proposal on the fly, concluded that it would “reduce deficits by only $851 billion over 10 years.” A red-faced Boehner said he would revise his proposal to generate more savings. What this »

Many liberals think that the primary purpose of government is to protect them from private industry. I have never understood that. History suggests that it is governments that should be viewed warily, not private enterprise. When has the electric company ever hauled people out of their beds, lined them up against a wall and shot them? When has an automobile manufacturer ever asserted the right to appropriate big chunks of »